Lent, which is the strictest fasting period of the year, this year starts on March 3 and ends on April 20, when it is celebrated Easter. Meat, fish, eggs, milk and products from them and the wines are banned during Lent, IPN reports.

The sick, elderly people and children can be allowed to eat certain prohibited products, except for Wednesdays and Fridays and the first and last weeks. Though priests urge the faithful to abstain from eating in excess, they say Lent is rather a period of prayer and repentance.

On the Annunciation (April 7) and on Palm Sunday (April 13), those who fast are allowed to eat fish and to drink wine, moderately. During Lent, priests’ clothes and things in the Church are mainly black or dark violet.

Lent is the longest fasting season of the year. It lasts for 40 days plus Holy Week, which is the week before Easter. This period prepares the Christians for the return to life of Jesus Christ. The faithful are recommended to eat dry or boiled products on Fridays and Wednesdays. Those who want to take communion can do it from the first week, on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

There are four main periods of extended fasting during the year: the Great Lent, the Nativity Fast, the Apostles’ Fast, and the Dormition Fast.